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We are a few years away from a printed economy – an economy in which 3D printing will have a major role in manufacturing. Up to now, 3D printing has been most useful in creating prototypes. But from the automotive to the electronics and toy industries, 3D printers will increasingly produce critical parts and finished products. What are some industries 3D printing will disrupt? Here’s our list of seven.

Food: Food products such as chocolates that are shaped like company logos, names, and other unique objects will be widely printed. Anything that can exist in liquid or powder form – in other words, ingredients that can then be extruded through a nozzle or syringe – can be printed. This includes sugar, cheese, sauces, and others. A meal comprising of pizza, an eggplant dish, corn pasta, and panna cotta was recently 3D printed for The New York Times.

3D-printed sugar cubes. (Photo courtesy of Ernestine Fu)

Medicine: Medical solutions will be more customized for individual patients. Any simple soft-tissue organ such as an ear, finger, or kidney can be 3D produced and will soon be widely used. Metal hip implants, skull implants, orthopedic insoles, body braces, and jaw transplants have already been manufactured on 3D printers.

Military: Much of the machinery for the military is complex and produced in relatively low volumes. Many parts are custom and replacement parts are constantly needed. We will see the instant production of replacement parts on-site in remote locations through 3D printing. The first 3D-printed gun already debuted earlier this year.

First 3D-printed gun. (Photo courtesy of Michael Thad Carter)

Electronics: Designing and 3D printing electronics with optimal shape and styling properties will be common. 3D printing is ideal for the complex geometric features needed in small, compact electronic circuit boards that use multiple materials ranging from low conductivity plastics to high conductivity metal materials. A team of researchers from Harvard University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has already fabricated tiny batteries using 3D printing. The batteries can power insect-sized robots and hundreds of other minuscule devices.

Toys: Inexpensive consumer 3D printers at least 10 times cheaper than ones that exist today and open-source 3D design will change the way children play. Children will download 3D design files for the toys they want, modify and customize them as they wish, and then 3D manufacture them in their homes.

Personalized Star Trek figurines with your face are currently available for purchase. (Photo courtesy of Ernestine Fu)

Automotive: 3D printing will manufacture vehicle parts and even whole cars. High-end, specialty cars that have relatively small production runs will particularly benefit. Bentley is one company that has already demonstrated the feasibility of using 3D printing for small, complex parts. Motorcyclists and bikers will also be able to order their own customized helmets that are printed to fit their individual head size and structure.

As these examples indicate, 3D printing will transform the way manufacturing is done today. Moreover, it has the potential for helping to meet the needs of people throughout the world. Poor people in the developing world will find that clean drinking water, low-cost energy sources, and other basic human needs will be met at much lower costs through 3D printing. In this sense, it can serve important civic purposes as well as be an engine of economic development.

3D printing will bring a revolution the details of which are only now beginning to emerge.